Mio: Memories in Orbit praised as an immaculately made Metroidvania aboard The Vessel

Polygon says Mio: Memories in Orbit, the new side-scrolling Metroidvania from Shady Part of Me developer Douze Dixièmes, is an immaculately constructed 2D adventure set aboard The Vessel, an abandoned ark of robots.

Players control Mio, a small bot who reaches the ship’s central structure, The Spine, and sets out to restore the ship’s robotic caretakers called Pearls. The game emphasises exploration and a widening movement kit — jumps, glides and pogo slashes — alongside upgradable memory-bank abilities and currency-based upgrades. Combat is presented as achievable rather than punishing, with accessibility options that can progressively ease boss fights after repeated deaths; dying drops currency but the reviewer notes there is no corpse run requirement and some helpful bots prevent carried items from being lost.

The reviewer highlights the Vessel’s hand-drawn visuals and the map-as-body design, likening the experience more to Ori than Hollow Knight and drawing links to Ultros and Axiom Verge. Mio: Memories in Orbit will be released Jan. 20 on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed on Steam Deck using a prerelease download code provided by Focus Entertainment.

Key Topics

Culture, Douze Dixièmes, The Vessel, The Spine, Nintendo Switch, Pearls